Belgium Sentence Examples
Some of the largest are those of Gastornis, with three species from France, Belgium and England.
The whole effect of the grim castle, the silvery stream and the verdant woods makes one of the most striking scenes in Belgium.
The geographical features of the countries formerly known collectively as the Netherlands or Low Countries are dealt with under the modern English names of Holland and Belgium.
After 1815 Ghent was for a time the centre of Catholic opposition to Dutch rule, as it is now that of the Flemish movement in Belgium.
The chief agricultural products are barley, oats, wheat, and in the north-east flax is also grown, and exported to South Holland and Belgium.
The period of study is eighteen months in Denmark or Norway, and two in Austria, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland, three in Belgium, France, Greece and Italy, four to six in Holland, and five in Spain.
Two or three years of apprenticeship is required in most countries, including Great Britain, but none in Belgium, Greece, Italy or Spain.
His first important post was as procurator for the province of Austria, 1847; next year he became rector of the Jesuit college at Louvain, and, after serving as secretary to the provincials of Belgium and Austria, was elected head of the order in 1853.
Of the imports about 27% in value are from Great Britain, 14%% from Germany, and smaller proportions from France, Argentina, Italy, Spain, the United States and Belgium.
It will be observed that Belgium leads all the countries of the world in what may be called its railway density, with the United Kingdom a far-distant second in the list, and Persia last.
AdvertisementState operation and ownership is a system which originated in Belgium at the beginning of railway enterprise, and has been consistently carried out by the Scandinavian countries and by Hungary.
Holland, Hungary and Switzerland were all early in the field; and Belgium has succeeded, through the instrumentality of the semi-official Societe Nationale de Chemins de Fer Vicinaux, started in 1885, in developing one of the most complete systems of rural railway transport in the world.
In Belgium a public company under government control (" Societe Nationale de Chemins de Fer Vicinaux ") does all that in France forms the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior Belgium.
He joined Ledru-Rollin in the attempt of the 13th of June 1849, after which he sought refuge in Switzerland, Belgium, and finally in England.
Belgium granted full freedom to the Jews in 1815, and the community has since 1808 been organized on the state consistorial system, which till recently also prevailed in France.
AdvertisementIn any case, only the eastern districts would have been affected by invaders from over the Rhine, the chief seat of the Belgae proper being in the west, the country occupied by the Bellovaci, Ambiani and Atrebates, to which it is probable (although the reading is uncertain) that Caesar gives the distinctive name Belgium (corresponding to the old provinces of Picardy and Artois).
The sudden invasion of Belgium by the Germans rendered a large part of the Belgian civilian population destitute, and on Oct.
All his energies were now directed to securing food and vessels for its transportation and to directing its distribution in Belgium.
To these sums the value of horses alone contributed about three-fourths, Belgium taking more than half the number of exported horses.
Germany and France, and in a less degree Belgium, Portugal and Italy, have taken some steps.
AdvertisementHe made clear his belief that the question was closely connected with the problems of the Pacific and Far East, and invitations were also sent accordingly to China and to the smaller European powers with Far-Eastern interests - Holland, Belgium and Portugal.
It has many breweries and distilleries, and the spirit known by its name, which is a coarse gin, has a certain reputation throughout Belgium.
In 1858 the representatives of Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Piedmont, Russia, the Holy See, Sweden, Tuscany and Turkey appropriated the sum of 400,000 francs in recognition of the use of his instruments in those countries.
It passes through the most picturesque scenery in Belgium and is remarkable for its sinuous course, its length of 120 m.
His assumption in the following year of the title of king of the Netherlands was recognized by the powers, and by the treaty of Paris his sovereignty was extended over the southern as well as the northern Netherlands, Belgium being added to Holland "as an increase of territory."
AdvertisementHad the king consented at once to the administrative autonomy of Belgium, and appointed the prince of Orange governor of the southern Netherlands, it is probable that the revolt might have been appeased.
By the treaty of the eighteen articles, however, concluded at London on the 29th of June 1831, the kingdom of Belgium was recognized, and Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was elected king.
William refused his assent, and in August suddenly invaded Belgium.
Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Russia and the United States began to rank as producers during the second and third decades; Belgium entered in about 1840; Italy in the 'sixties; Mexico, Canada, Japan and Greece in the 'eighties; while Australia assumed importance in 1888 with a production of about 18,000 tons, although it had contributed small and varying amounts for many preceding decades.
The principal folding took place at the close of the Carboniferous period, and was contemporaneous with that of the old Hercynian chain of Belgium, &c. The Permian and later beds lie unconformably upon the denuded folds, and in the space between the Montagne Noire and the Cevennes proper the folded belt is buried beneath the horizontal Jurassic strata of the Causses.
Its commerce is much facilitated by the system of canals which bring it into communication with Belgium, the coal-basins of Nord and Pasde-Calais, the rich agricultural regions of Flanders and Artois, and the industrial towns of Lille, Armentieres, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Valenciennes, &c. The roadstead is indicated by lightships and the entrance channel to the port by a lighthouse which, at an altitude of 193 ft., is visible at a distance of 19 m.
The alum schists employed in the manufacture of alum are mixtures of iron pyrites, aluminium silicate and various bituminous substances, and are found in upper Bavaria, Bohemia, Belgium and Scotland.
All this excessive labour for the stage had undermined the great poet's health, and in 1725 he had determined to take the baths at Aix-la-Chapelle; but instead of going thither he wandered through Belgium to Paris, and spent the winter there.
But it is noticeable that where women engage in occupations of a more than usually strenuous nature, they frequently don male costume while at their work; as, for instance, women who work in mines (Belgium) and who tend cattle (Switzerland, Tirol).
The year 1907 was marked by the repudiation of the debt to Belgium, and fresh difficulties with the United States.
In T831, on the separation of Holland and Belgium, the former had become more amenable to reason; and a system was agreed upon which practically gave free navigation to the vessels of the riverine states, while imposing a moderate tariff upon foreign ships.
In England are several collieries over 3000 ft., and in Belgium two are nearly 4000 ft.
England takes by far the greatest share of Burma's rice, though large quantities are also consumed in Germany, while France, Italy, Belgium and Holland also consume a considerable amount.
An effort at a more direct mechanical process is embodied in the inventions of Foucault which are at present being developed in Germany and Belgium; in this process the glass is drawn from the molten bath in the shape of flat sheets, by the aid of a bar of iron, previously immersed in the glass, the glass receiving its form by being drawn through slots in large fire-bricks, and being kept in shape by rapid chilling produced by the action of air-blasts.
Owing to theAfashion of Dutch and Flemish painters introducing glass vases and drinking-glasses into their paintings of still life, interiors and scenes of conviviality, Holland and Belgium at the present day possess more accurate records of the products of their ancient glass factories than any other countries.
Formerly it was fortified, but after the change in the defensive system of Belgium in 1858 the fortress was dismantled and its ramparts superseded by boulevards.
At that time it had a population of at least 50,000 and was very prosperous as the centre of the woollen trade in central Belgium.
Under the Restoration the "amnesty" law of 1816 condemned him as a regicide to exile, and he withdrew to Belgium, to St Jean-Ten-Noode, near Brussels, where he died on the 15th of February 18 20.
Before the war 60 to 70% of the imports came from Belgium, which also took the bulk of the exports.
During the war external trade was almost wholly with Great Britain; after 1918 Belgium recovered part of the trade, though that with Britain continued much above pre-war figures and was worth £2,000,000 in 1919.
Of this area nearly all the province of Urundi and the greater part of Ruanda were permanently assigned to Belgium by an Anglo-Belgian agreement of Sept.
By a previous Anglo-Belgian protocol (May 1910) the Congo-Uganda frontier had been modified so as to give Belgium the western shores of Albert Nyanza and in Feb.
His practice was not confined to his own country, but extended also to Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Piedmont and Egypt.
The conference met, and on the 30th of August 1888 a convention was signed by all the powers represented except France - namely, by Austria, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain.
Of all the countries represented - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Spain, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Russia and Sweden - only one, namely France, was opposed to the complete suppression of all export bounties, direct or indirect; and Russia declined to discuss the question of her internal legislation, contending that her system did not amount to a bounty on exportation.
The news of the failure of the French arms in Belgium gave rise in Paris to popular movements on the 9th and 10th of March 1793, and on the 10th of March, on the proposal of Danton, the Convention decreed that there should be established in Paris an extraordinary criminal tribunal, which received the official name of the Revolutionary Tribunal by a decree of the 29th of October 1793.
It may also be accompanied by pyrites, galena, arsenides and antimonides, quartz, calcite, dolomite, &c. It is widely distributed, and is particularly abundant in Germany (the Harz, Silesia), Austro-Hungary, Belgium, the United States and in England (Cumberland, Derbyshire, Cornwall, North Wales).
Belgium entered in 1837 with an output of about 2000 tons; England in 1855 with 3000; and the United States in 1873 with 6000 tons.
The productions of Germany, Belgium and the United States have enormously and fairly regularly increased.
Germany produced 155,799 tons in 1900, and 198,208 in 1905; Belgium, 120,000 in 1900 and 143,165 in 1905; the United States, 111,000 in 1900 and 183,014 in 1905.
Their remains have been found in Belgium and France, in Britain, Germany and Denmark, as well as in Spain; and they bear a close resemblance to a type which is common among the Basques as well as all over the Iberian peninsula.
Belgium The Journal encyclopedique (1756-1793) founded by P. Rousseau, made Liege a propagandist centre for the philosophical party.
It has been calculated that in 1860 there were 51 periodicals published in Belgium.
In the partition of Africa among the European Powers, the shores of Tanganyika have been shared by Belgium, Great Britain and Germany, Great Britain holding the southern extremity, Germany the east, and Belgium the west.
The town hall, which took ten years to build (1525-1535), has after that of Louvain the most elaborately decorated facade in Belgium.
His brother, Jean Andre Tiburce Sebastiani (1786-1871), entered the army in 1806, served in the Peninsula from 1809 to 1811, and in the great campaigns of Russia, Germany, France and Belgium.
He served in the armies of Belgium, Portugal and Spain, distinguishing himself in many engagements.
This council was nominated by the governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Holland and Belgium, with headquarters in Copenhagen and a central laboratory at Christiania, and its aim was to furnish data for the improvement of the fisheries of the North Sea and surrounding waters.
In France and Belgium, however, a peculiar word, houille, is generally used to signify mineral coal.
In Belgium the chief coal-basins are those of Hainaut and Liege.
According to a calculation made by P. Frech in 1900, on the basis of the then rate of production, the coalfields of central France, central Bohemia, the kingdom of Saxony, the Prussian province of Saxony and the north of England, would be exhausted in 100 to 200 years, the other British coalfields, the Waldenburg-Schatzlar and that of the north of France in 250 years, those of Saarbriicken, Belgium, Aachen and Westphalia in 600 to Boo years, and those of Upper Silesia in more than 1000 years.
In the north of France and Belgium wooden tubbings, built of polygonal rings, were at one time in general use.
The third method of sinking through water-bearing strata is that of boring, adopted by Messrs Kind & Chaudron in Belgium and Germany.
Poetsch in 1883, and originally applied to shafts passing through quicksands above brown coal seams, has been applied with advantage in opening new pits through the secondary and tertiary strata above the coal measures in the north of France and Belgium, some of the most successful examples being those at Lens, Anzin and Vicq, in the north of France basin.
In steeply inclined seams passes or shoots leading to the main level below are sometimes used, and in Belgium iron plates are sometimes laid in the excavated ground to form a slide for the coal down to the loading place.
They were formerly used on a very large scale in Belgium and South Wales, but the great weight of the moving parts makes it impossible to drive them at the high speed called for by modern requirements, so that centrifugal fans are now generally adopted instead.
Oil lamps are employed in many of the Scotch collieries, and are almost universally used in Belgium and other European countries.
In Belgium and the north of France flat ropes of aloe fibre (Manila hemp or plantain fibre) are in high repute, being considered preferable by many colliery managers to wire, in spite of their great weight.
In Belgium it was tried in a pit 940 metres deep, where it has been replaced by flat hempen ropes, and is now restricted to shallower workings.
Belgium 950 3117 The greatest depth attained in the Westphalian coal is at East Recklinghausen, where there are two shafts 841 metres (2759 ft.) deep.
The Province Of Luxemburg is the largest and least populous of the nine provinces of Belgium.
Houston was elected president in September 1836, and the independence of the republic was recognized in 1837 by the United States, Great Britain, France and Belgium.
But Jansen, as he said, did not mean to be a school-pedant all his life; and there were moments when he dreamed political dreams. He looked forward to a time when Belgium should throw off the Spanish yoke and become an independent Catholic republic on the model of Protestant Holland.
Here you find articles in the encyclopedia on topics related to Belgium.
Moreover Germany, Great Britain and Belgium (as inheritor of the Congo State) had conflicting claims in the region N.E.
In that capacity he took an important part in the negotiations respecting the founding of the new kingdom of Belgium.
In 1919 he welcomed the King and Queen of Belgium on their visit to Washington during the illness of President Wilson.
The Netherlands legalized the use of denatured alcohol in 1865; in 1872 France permitted its use under a special tax, and in Germany its employment was authorized in 1879, the other European countries following, Austria in 1888, Italy in 1889, Sweden in 1890, Norway in 1891, Switzerland in 1893, and Belgium in 1896.
After the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus in Belgium the work was again taken up in 1837, at the suggestion of the Academie Royale of Belgium and with the support of the Belgian government, and the Bollandists were installed at the college of St Michael in Brussels.
But he was richly compensated, apart from the regular indemnification paid by the German Government, when he was called in by Ludendorff as the most competent expert to 'give advice, to organize the coal and the industrial production of occupied Belgium and to help to set in motion the gigantic production of war material which the German G.H.Q.
Of this force the emperor could have drawn together some 50,000 men within ten days and struck straight at the small allied forces that were in Belgium at the moment.
In Belgium, across an almost open frontier, lay an ever-increasing force of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian troops under Wellington and Blucher.
It was accordingly arranged that Wellington and Blucher should await in Belgium the arrival of the Austrian and Russian masses on the Rhine, about July 1, before the general invasion of France was begun.
His information showed that Wellington held the western half of Belgium from the Brussels-Charleroi road to the Scheldt, that his base of operations was Ostend, and that his headquarters were at Brussels.
The emperor was convinced that nothing could be gained by invading Belgium from the S.E.
Herein Napoleon showed that he was no longer the Napoleon of Austerlitz; for he left locked up in far-distant secondary theatres no less than 56,500 men, of whom he could have collected some 30,000 to 36,000 for the decisive campaign in Belgium.
For his advance into Belgium in 1815 Napoleon divided his army into two wings and a reserve.
Napoleon had now perfected his arrangements for the invasion of Belgium, and his army was organized definitely in two wings and a reserve; the latter being so placed that it could be brought "into action on either wing as circumstances dictated."
This course has been adopted in Germany, Belgium and France, and an approach to it is made in the decennial census of Canada and the United States.
Phosphates occur in Belgium, especially near Mons, and these, like those of north-east France, are principally in the Upper Chalk.
The production is on the whole diminishing in Belgium (180,000 tons in 1907), but in France it is still large (375,000 tons in 1907).
With a population of 60,000, and 8000 workers in copper, it was one of the most flourishing cities in Walloon Belgium until it incurred the wrath of Charles the Bold.
It has been restored, and is considered by some authorities, although others make the same claim on behalf of Huy, the most complete specimen in Belgium of pointed Gothic architecture.
As the father of King Leopold of Belgium's consort, the queen was much interested in his visit, which went off with great success and goodwill.
In Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium scientific nursing is in a backward state.
In 1908 the British empire retained the lead, but other nations, notably Germany, Denmark, Italy and Belgium, had recently acquired large interests in the commerce of the country.
In the grand duchy the forest has almost entirely disappeared, but owing to the compulsory law of replanting in Belgium this fate does not seem likely to attend the Belgian Ardennes.
Apart from its associations the Grand Place contains two of the finest and most ornate buildings not merely in the capital but in Belgium.
Returning to Belgium he entered the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1842.
The Dutch had the right to make this levy under treaties going back to the treaty of Munster in 1648, and they clung to it still more tenaciously after Belgium separated herself in 1830-1831 from the united kingdom of the Netherlands - the London conference in 1839 fixing the toll payable to Holland at I.
The French government at once set to work to enter into similar arrangements with other countries, and treaties were successively concluded in 1860-66 with Belgium, with the Zollverein (Germany), Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, Holland, Spain, Austria.
In 1892, however, the precise year in which France gave up her system of commercial treaties, some moderation was brought about in Germany's protective system by commercial treaties with Austria, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and shortly afterwards with Russia.
The era of moderated tariffs, which began with the great treaty of 1860, lasted for about twenty years, and was followed in Italy, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain by a reversion to protection, although usually to a less high system of protection than had prevailed before 1860.
Rescued with difficulty, he escaped with a false passport to Belgium, and thence to London; in his absence he was condemned by the special tribunal established at Bourges, in contumaciam, to deportation.
The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1830 and the revolt of Belgium produced a great effect in Poland.
Holland was confirmed in the possession of Belgium and Luxemburg, Limburg and Liege were added to her dominions.
Meanwhile he had visited England, where he was well received; and he afterwards travelled in Holland, Belgium and France, acquainting himself with the condition and prospects of the Roman Catholic Church.
In shape it is quadrilateral with a cape-like prolongation into Belgium on the north.
Holland drove them out in 1816, and, by giving them thus a valid excuse for aiding the Belgian revolution of 1830, secured them the strong position they have ever since held in Belgium; but they have succeeded in returning to Holland.
Of all the various nationalities represented in the Society, neither France, its original cradle, nor England, has ever given it a head, while Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Poland, were all represented.
It lies about half-way between Hasselt and Louvain, and is still one of the five fortified places in Belgium.
It is evident that had the fecundity of the American stock of 1790 been equal only to that of Belgium (the most fertile population of western Europe in the 19th century) then the additions of foreign elementg to the American people would have been, by I 900 in heavy preponderance over the original, mainly British., elements.
The denunciation by the British government in 1897 of commercial treaties with Belgium and Germany, at the request of Canada, was a striking proof of her increasing importance, and attempts have at various times been made to obtain the full treaty-making power for the federal government.
It lies at the southern point of the district called Pays de Waes, which in the early part of the 19th century was only sandy moorland, but is now the most highly cultivated and thickly populated tract in Belgium.
In March 1825 he was created cardinal by Leo XII., and shortly afterwards was entrusted with an important mission to adjust a concordat regarding the interests of the Catholics of Belgium and the Protestants of Holland.
Not only the number of possible war-making states but also the territorial area over which war can be made has been reduced in recent times by the creation of neutralized states such as Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg and Norway, and areas such as the Congo basin, the American lakes and the Suez Canal.
Thus Belgium, which is a neutralized state, riot only has an army but has fortifications, although by the treaties of 1831 and 1839 she was recognized as a " perpetually neutral state, bound to observe the same neutrality with reference to other states."
The double-standard Latin union monetary system was founded by a convention of 1865, between Belgium, France, Italy and Switzerland.
These aggressions of monarchy and the episcopate were rendered vain, outside the Habsburg dominions, by the revolution; and to the Habsburg dominions the clerical revolution of 1790 caused the loss of what is to-day Belgium.
Passing over Portugal, the remaining European state which is Roman Catholic is Belgium.
As the arbitrary king alienated the Liberal Catholics, who were still more or less under the spell of the French Revolution, the Catholic provinces took advantage of the upheavals of 1830 to form the independent kingdom of Belgium.
The result of this evolution is that Belgium is to-day the most staunchly Catholic land north of the Alps.
In Holland, as in Belgium, the education question has been uppermost.
In Spain and Portugal, and also in Belgium, a Liberalism inimical to the Church was in power.
But the Christian Democracy, which, starting in Belgium and France, had now extended its activity to Italy, Austria and Germany, and was striving to arrive at this solution, degenerated everywhere into a political party.
The socialistic idea, with which the " Democratie Chretienne " had identified itself both in France and Belgium, regards numbers as the centre of gravity of the whole state organism.
Besides being the chief commercial port of Belgium, Antwerp is the greatest fortress of that country.
The religious troubles that marked the second half of the 16th century broke out in Antwerp as in every other part of Belgium excepting Liege.
In others, as in Great Britain, the United States of America and Belgium, the pope selects one out of a list submitted by the chapter.
During the season, which extends from June to September, it receives a large number of visitors, probably over 60,000 altogether, from Germany as well as from Belgium.
Besides its maritime trade Rotterdam has an extensive river traffic, not only with Holland, but also with Belgium and Germany.
He secured for France an excellent system of railways without making them a state monopoly, and he conducted the complicated negotiations for the treaty of commerce with England which was concluded in January 1860, and subsequently arranged similar treaties with Belgium and Italy.
In many parts of the world there is no sharp line of demarcation between the Devonian and the Carboniferous rocks; neither can the fossil faunas and floras be clearly separated at any well-defined line; this is true in Britain, Belgium, Russia, Westphalia and parts of North America.
For the first time in the earth's history we find Foraminifera taking a prominent part in the marine faunas; the genus Fusulina was abundant in what is now Russia, China, Japan, North America; Valvulina had a wide range, as also had Endothyra and Archaediscus; Saccammina is a form well known in Britain and Belgium, and many others have been described; some Carboniferous genera are still extant.
This clearer water extended from Ireland across north-central England and through South Wales and Somerset into Belgium and Westphalia; but a narrow ridge of elevated older rocks ran across the centre of England towards Belgium at this time.
The area is subject 1 At Maastricht, however, a portion lies on the left bank of the river, measured, according to the treaty with Belgium, 19th of April 1839, art.
Following the example of the great Kampen irrigation canal in Belgium, artificial irrigation is also practised by means of some of the smaller streams, especially in North Brabant, Drente and Overysel, and in the absence of streams, canals and sluices are sometimes specially constructed to perform the same service.
The northern and southern provinces are further connected by the lines Amsterdam - Zaandam (1878) - Enkhuizen (1885), whence there is a steam ferry across the Zuider Zee to Stavoren, from where the railway is continued to Leeuwarden (1883-1885); the Netherlands Central railway, Utrecht - AmersfoortZwoole - Kampen (1863); and the line Utrecht - 's Hertogenbosch (1868-1869) which is continued southward into Belgium by the lines bought in 1898 from the Grand Central Belge railway, namely, via Tilburg to Turnhout (1867), and via Eindhoven (1866) to Hasselt.
The mineral resources of Holland give no encouragement to industrial activity, with the exception of the coal-mining in Limburg, the smelting of iron ore in a few furnaces in Overysel and Gelderland, the use of stone and gravel in the making of dikes and roads, and of clay in brickworks and potteries, the quarrying of stone at St Pietersberg, &c. Nevertheless the industry of the country has developed in a remarkable manner since the separation from Belgium.
An examination of its lists of exports and imports will show that Holland receives from its colonies its spiceries, coffee, sugar, tobacco, indigo, cinnamon; from England and Belgium its manufactured goods and coals; petroleum, raw cotton and cereals from the United States; grain from the Baltic provinces, Archangel, and the ports of the Black Sea; timber from Norway and the basin of the Rhine, yarn from England, wine from France, hops from Bavaria and Alsace; ironore from Spain; while in its turn it sends its colonial wares to Germany, its agricultural produce to the London market, its fish to Belgium and Germany, and its cheese to France, Belgium and Hamburg, as well as England.
The bulk of trade is carried on with Germany and England; then follow Java, Belgium, Russia, the United States, &c. In the last half of the 19th century the total value of the foreign commerce was more than trebled.
The consequences were the Belgian Revolution of 1830, The which ended in the intervention of the great powers, Belgian and the setting up, in 1831, of Belgium as an indepen- Revolu- dent kingdom.
Belgium imports nearly all of its ore, while Sweden and Spain export most of the ore which they mine.
Germany gets about two-thirds of her total ore supply from the great Jurassic " Minette " ore deposit of Luxemburg and Lorraine, which reaches also into France and Belgium.
To make a ton of pig iron needs only about 1.9 tons of ore in the United States, 2 tons in Sweden and Russia, 2.4 tons in Great Britain and Germany, and about 2.7 tons in France and Belgium, while about 3 tons of the native British ores are needed per ton of pig iron.
Formerly the Independent State of the Congo, it was annexed to Belgium in 1908.
Although the name Belgium only came into general use with the foundation of the modern kingdom in 1830, its derivation from ancient times is clear and incontrovertible.
For the explanation of the English form of the name it may be mentioned that Belgium was a canton of what had been the Nervian country in the time of the Roman occupation.
The western portion of Belgium, consisting of the two Flanders, Antwerp and parts of Brabant and Hainaut, is flat, being little above the level of the sea; and indeed at one point near Furnes it is 7 ft.
While the greater part of western and northern Belgium is devoid of the picturesque, the Ardennes and the Fagnes districts of " Between Sambre and Meuse " and Liege contain much pleasant and some romantic scenery.
There are no lakes in Belgium, but otherwise it is exceedingly well watered, being traversed by the Meuse for the greater part of its course, as well as by the Scheldt and the Sambre.
The canals of Belgium are scarcely less numerous or important than those of Holland, especially in Flanders, where they give a distinctive character to the country.
But the most striking feature in Belgium, where so much is modern, utilitarian and ugly, is found in the older cities with their relics of medieval greatness, and their record of ancient fame.
Belgium lies upon the northern side of an ancient mountain chain which has long been worn down to a low level and the remnants of which rise to the surface in the Ardennes, and extend eastward into Germany, forming the Eifel and Westerwald, the Hunsriick and the Taunus.
Westward the chain lies buried beneath the Mesozoic and Tertiary beds of Belgium and the north of France, but it reappears in the west of England and Ireland.
Upon its northern margin lie the nearly undisturbed Cretaceous and Tertiary beds which cover the greater part of Belgium.
The fact that in Belgium Jurassic beds are found upon the southern and not upon the northern margin indicates that in this region the chain was still a ridge in Jurassic times.
Except along the southern border of the Ardennes, and at one or two points in the middle of the Palaeozoic massif, Triassic and Jurassic beds are unknown in Belgium, and the Palaeozoic rocks are directly and unconformably overlaid by Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits.
Exclusive of the Ardennes the greater part of Belgium is covered by Tertiary deposits.
Coal and iron are by far the most important mineral productions of Belgium.
In 1831 the population of Belgium was 3,785,814, so that in 75 years it had not quite doubled.
The number of foreigners resident in Belgium in 1900 with their nationalities were Germans, 42,079; English, 5096; French, 85,735; Dutch, 54,49 1; Luxemburgers, 9762; and all other nationalities, 14,411.
The limits of Belgium are fixed by the London protocol of the 15th of October 1831 - also called the twenty-four articles - which cut off what is now termed the grand duchy of Luxemburg, and also a good portion of the duchy of Limburg.
The hierarchy of the Church of Rome in Belgium is composed of the archbishop of Malines, and the bishops of Liege, Ghent, Bruges, Tournai and Namur.
Besides the regular clergy there are the members of the numerous monastic and conventual houses established in Belgium.
Among the provinces Walloon Belgium is better instructed than Flemish, Luxemburg coming first, followed by Namur, Liege and Brabant in their order.
The president of this tribunal is the highest legal functionary in Belgium.
Belgium retains the older form of conscription, and has not adopted the system of " universal service."
The defence of Belgium depends on five fortified positions.
The principal mineral produced in Belgium is coal.
The coal mines of Belgium give employment to nearly 150,000 persons, and for some years the average output has exceeded 22,000,000 tons.
Belgium is particularly rich in quarries of marble, granite and slate.
The trade of Belgium has more than trebled as regards both imports and exports since 1870.
Belgium has no state navy, although various proposals have been made from time to time to establish an armed flotilla in connexion with the defence of Antwerp. The state, however, possesses a certain number of steamers.
The total number of vessels entering the only two ports of Belgium which carry on ocean commerce, namely Antwerp and Ostend, in 1904 was 7650 of a tonnage of 10,330,127.
The internal communications of Belgium of every kind are excellent.
When Belgium became a separate state in 1830 they were less than one-third of this total.
Philip had in the southern o f Netherlands attained his object, and Belgium was henceforth Catholic and Spanish, but at the expense of its progress and prosperity.
These were, indeed, partly restored to Belgium by the peace of Nijmwegen (1679); but on the other hand it lost Valenciennes, Nieuport, St Omer, Ypres and Charlemont, which were only in part recovered by the peace of Ryswick (1697).
England and Holland were determined to prevent, however, at all costs the acquisition of Belgium by a French prince, and a coalition, known as the Grand Alliance, was formed between these two powers and the empire to uphold the claims of the archduke Charles, second son of the emperor.
Belgium was undisturbed by the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), and during the long peace which followed enjoyed considerable prosperity.
Among these was the closing of the Scheldt to all ships, a clause which was ruinous to the commerce of the Belgic provinces, by cutting them off from their only to the impoverished land by the introduction of new but visited Belgium in person and governor-general,g p showed a great and active interest in its affairs.
The new emperor at once took steps to re-assert, if possible, his authority in Belgium without having recourse to armed force.
The treaty of Campo Formio (1797) and the subsequent treaty of Luneville (1801) confirmed the conquerors in the possession of the country, and Belgium became an integral part of France, being governed on the same footing, receiving the Code Napoleon, and sharing in the fortunes of the Republic and the Empire.
After the fall of Napoleon and the conclusion of the first peace of Paris (30th of May 1814) Belgium was indeed for some months placed under the administration of an Austrian governor-general, but it u f was shortly afterwards united with Holland to form the kingdom of the Netherlands.
From this date until the Belgian revolt of 1830, the history of Holland and Belgium is that of two portions of one political entity, but in the relations of those two portions were to be found from the very outset fundamental causes 183v tending to disagreement and separation.
Belgium was regarded too much in the light of an annexed territory, handed over to Holland as compensation for the losses sustained by the Dutch in the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
The idea that Holland was the predominant partner in the kingdom of the Netherlands was firmly rooted in the north and naturally provoked in the south the feeling that Belgium was being exploited for the benefit of the Dutch.
Though the population of Belgium was 3,400,000 and that of Holland only a little more than 2,000,000 the two countries had equal representation in the second chamber of the states-general.
In 1792 the armies of revolutionary France assailed Austria at her weakest point by an invasion of Belgium.
Moreover it cannot be gainsaid that Belgium during her union with Holland enjoyed a degree of prosperity that was quite remarkable.
Petitions were sent in setting forth the Belgian grievances, demanding a separate administration for Belgium and a full concession of the liberties guaranteed by the constitution.
The result was that the moderate party in Belgium quickly lost their influence, and those in favour of violent measures prevailed.
A provisional government was formed at Brussels, which declared Belgium to be an independent state, and summoned a national congress to establish a system of government.
King William now did his utmost to avoid a rupture, and sent the prince of Orange to Antwerp to promise that Belgium should have a separate administration; but it was too late.
Meanwhile the conference in London had drawn up the project of a treaty for the separation of Holland and Belgium, which was declared " to be final and irrevocable."
The powers recognized the independence of Belgium, " as a neutral state."
Belgium therefore kept possession of Limburg and Luxemburg, except the fortress of Luxemburg, which as a fortress of the German confederation was, under the terms of the treaty of Vienna, garrisoned by Prussian troops.
These territories were treated in every way as a part of Belgium, and sent representatives to the chambers.
The chambers argued that Belgium had been induced to agree to the twenty-four articles in 1832 in the hope of thereby at once terminating all harassing disputes, but as Holland refused then to accept them, the conditions were no longer binding and the circumstances were now quite changed.
They urged that Luxemburg in fact formed an integral part of Belgium and that the people were totally opposed to a union with Holland.
It saddled Belgium with a portion of Holland's debt, and a severe financial crisis followed.
Three hundred and twenty delegates met and drew up an Act of Federation and a programme of The conditions were far less favourable to Belgium of g than had been hoped, and it was not without much heart-burning and considerable opposition, that the senate and chamber of deputies gave their assent to them.
By these articles the grand-duchy reforms. The election of 1847 gave a majority to the Liberals and a purely Liberal ministry was formed, and from this date onwards it has been the constitutional practice in Belgium to choose a homogeneous ministry from the party which possesses a working majority in the chamber.
Hence it came to pass that Belgium passed safely through the crisis of the French revolution of 1848.
On the outbreak of war between France and Germany in 1870, Belgium saw the difficulty and danger of her position, and lost no time in providing for contingencies.
The feeling of danger to Belgium also caused great excitement in England.
The use of Flemish in public documents, in judicial procedure and in official correspondence was hereafter required in the Flemish provinces, and Belgium became officially bi-lingual.
All over Belgium the agitation spread, and the clergy, who were practically independent of state control, gained the victory.
In 1899 there were in Belgium 6674 subsidized schools, having 775,000 scholars out of a total of 950,000 children of school age.
The Congo question had meanwhile become an acute one in Belgium.
The union between Belgium and the new state was declared to be purely personal, but its European headquarters were in Brussels, its officials, in the course of time, became almost exclusively Belgian, and financially and commercially the connexion between the two countries became increasingly close.
But as soon as this was accomplished the government opened a comprehensive enquiry into the causes of dissatisfaction, which served as the basis of numerous social laws, and led eventually to the establishment of universal suffrage and the substitution in Belgium of a democratic for a middle-class regime.
Albert Nyssens, Catholic The Nys- deputy and professor of penal procedure and colnmercial law at the university of Louvain, and on the Y In 1889 King Leopold announced that he had by his will bequeathed the Congo state to Belgium, and in 1890 the Belgian government, in return for financial help, acquired the right of annexing the country under certain conditions.
It was not until terrible reports as to the misgovernment of the Congo created a strong agitation for reform in Great Britain, America and other countries responsible for having aided in the creation of the state, that public opinion in Belgium seriously concerned itself with the subject.
A colonial law, also submitted to the chambers, secured for Belgium in case of annexation complete parliamentary control over the Congo state, and the bill for annexation was finally passed in September 1908.
The earlier Flemish authors are treated under DUTCH Literature; the revival of Flemish Literature since the separation of Belgium from the Netherlands in 1830, and Walloon Literature, are each separately noticed.
De Coster died in 1879, and Pirmez in 1883, and the new movement in Belgian literature dates from the banquet given in the latter year to Camille Lemonnier whose powerful personality did much to turn " Young Belgium " into a national channel.
This review, which owed much of its success to Waller's energy, defended the intense preoccupation of the new writers with questions of style, and became the depository of the Parnassian tradition in Belgium.
The earlier work of " Young Belgium " in poetry was experimental in character, and was marked by extravagances of style and a general exuberance which provoked much hostile criticism.
One of the most masterly writers of French in Belgium was the economist Emile de Laveleye.
Success again crowned his efforts, and Belgium was gained .for France (May, 1794).
The claim being granted by a large majority, he escaped to Belgium, where he issued a pamphlet defending his action during the Commune.
On his failure to appear before the court he was condemned to death, and remained in Belgium until 1879, when he was included in the amnesty proclaimed by Grevy.
Rising in Belgium, 5 m.
In 1839 on the final dissolution of the kingdom of the Netherlands, Holland gave definite form to this right by fixing the toll, and by obtaining the assent of the powers to the arrangement which fettered the trade of Antwerp. In 1863 after long negotiations Belgium bought up this right - each of the powers interested in the trade contributing its quota - and the navigation of the Scheldt was then declared free.
It inhabits France, Belgium, Switzerland, Western Germany (eastwards to the Weser), Spain and Portugal.
A line from Flensburg south-westward to Joldelund and thence northwestward to Hoyer will nearly give the boundary between the two idioms.i The German-French frontier traverses Belgium from west to east, touching the towns of St Omer, Courtrai and Maastricht.
About 90% of the zinc produced in Europe is yielded by Belgium and Germany.
In this year, however, a rigid protective system was introduced by the Zolltarifgesetz, since modified by the commercial treaties between Germany and Austria-Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, of the 1st of February 1892, and by a customs tariff law of the 25th of December 1902.
The Treveri claimed to be of German origin, and the same claim was made by a number of tribes in Belgium, the most powerful of which were the Nervii.
Treaties concluded with Great Britain and Belgium, about the same time, also tended to enhance Prussian prestige.
Mons is now a flourishing town with a good trade in cloth, lace, sugar refinery, &c.; but its chief importance is derived from its proximity to the Borinage (place of boring), district containing mines of the finest coal in Belgium.
In 1892 Austria-Hungary joined with Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland in commercial treaties to last for twelve years, the object being to secure to the states of central Europe a stable and extended market; for the introduction of high tariffs in Russia and America had crippled industry.
Iron and steel goods, machinery, locomotives, &c., come chiefly from England, Belgium and Germany, coal from England, live stock from Turkey and the Red Sea ports, coffee from Brazil, timber from Russia, Turkey and Sweden.
France about 10%, and Austria 6.72%, came next, but their import trade was declining, while that of Germany had risen from less than I to over 3%, and Belgium imports from 1.74 to 4.27%
This figure may be compared with that of Belgium, the most densely populated country in Europe, 589 per sq.
The flue-dust from the pyrites of Theux, near Spa (Belgium), according to BSttcher, contains o 5 to o 75 per cent.
In Belgium, the United Kingdom, North America and Russia the period of such sojourn is fixed at five years, in France, Greece and Sweden at three, in the Argentine Republic two, while in Portugal a residence of one year is sufficient.
Roca, who next attained to power, effected a temporary settlement with Colombia, concluded a convention with England against the slave trade, and made a commercial treaty with Belgium.
He spent many years travelling in Spain, France and Belgium, where he corresponded with Erasmus and other learned men.
The metal-work of Belgium is based at present entirely on that of France, without attaining the same standard, unless designed for ecclesiastical uses.
Solitary confinement has neither conquered nor appreciably diminished crime, even where it has been applied with extreme care, as in Belgium, and more recently in France, where it obtains strict and unbroken for long terms of years.
In Belgium, where penal administration has received the closest attention for a number of years, the regime of cellular imprisonment has been long carried to its farthest limits, and solitary confinement ranging over ten years and in some cases much more has been strictly enforced.
Of late years however a new school has arisen in Belgium which expresses strong doubts of the wisdom or efficacy of prolonged cellular confinement.
It was adopted in France by the Berenger law of 1891, and in Belgium, where 14% of sentences of imprisonment in one year and a-half were postponed.
Holland has followed her nearest neighbour Belgium and has now at command separate cells sufficient to receive the whole number of her prison population.
The subsequent discovery of two other skulls, almost identical in form, at Spy in Belgium, have helped to prove its typical character.
Here you find articles in the encyclopedia about painters from the Netherlands and Belgium.
The principal treaties affecting the distribution of territory between the various states of Central Europe are those of Westphalia (Osnabruck and Miinster), 1648; Utrecht, 1713;1713; Paris and Hubertusburg, 1763; for the partition of Poland, 1772, 1793; Vienna, 1815; London, for the separation of Belgium from the Netherlands, 1831, 1839; Zurich, for the cession of a portion of Lombardy to Sardinia, 1859; Vienna, as to SchleswigHolstein, 1864; Prague, whereby the German Confederation was dissolved, Austria recognizing the new North German Confederation, transferring to Prussia her rights over SchleswigHolstein, and ceding the remainder of Lombardy to Italy, 1866; Frankfort, between France and the new German Empire, 1871.
The boundaries of the territories, protectorates and spheres of influence in Africa of Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal have been readjusted by a series of treaties, especially between the years 1885 and 1894.
Switzerland, Belgium, Corfu and Paxo and Luxemburg are respectively neutralized by the treaties of Vienna, 1815, and of London, 1839, 1864, 1867.
It is largely for the latter reason that it seems advisable to begin with an account of the German towns, the term German to correspond to the limits of the old kingdom of Germany, comprising the present empire, German Austria, German Switzerland, Holland and a large portion of Belgium.
It is still one of the five fortified places in Belgium, although its defences are not modernized.
The next three years were devoted to travelling in Belgium, France, Italy and Greece.
The strength of the order now lies in Belgium, where at Tongerloo is a great Premonstratensian abbey that still maintains a semblance of its medieval state.
Even in the case of small and comparatively homogeneous countries such as Holland, Belgium or Saxony there is considerable deviation from the mean in the density of the respective component subdivisions, a difference which when extended over more numerous aggregates often renders the general mean misleading or of little value.
These, with the English, show a much smaller excess of boy-births than the average of western Europe, and the proportion, moreover, seems to be somewhat declining in both these countries and in Belgium, from causes which have not yet been ascertained.
One of the features which is prominent throughout the return is that in every country except Belgium the rate per mille attained a maximum in the early seventies, and has since shown a descending tendency, notwithstanding the fact, noted in the preceding paragraph, that the youthful population, which, of course, weighs down the rate, has also been relatively decreasing.
The decline in Italy and Norway is small, but in France, where for a long time the fertility of the population has been very much below that of any other European country, the birth-rate thus calculated fell by nearly 20%, the same figure' being approached in Belgium, where however, the fertility of married women is considerably greater.
By 1900-1902, however, the rate had fallen in all the larger States by from 23 to 31% and the highest rate recorded, 253 per thousand conceptive wives, was lower than that of any European country except France and Belgium.
England and Scotland, in spite of their higher birth-rates, are kept below Scandinavia by the higher death-rate, but their birth-rate places them above Belgium.
He had quarrelled with Austria; Russia was persecuting its Catholic subjects; France was under the spell of Gambetta and his doctrine that clericalism was the enemy; Spain and Belgium followed France; even Switzerland was waging a Kulturkampf on a small scale.
In a few years Leo had made peace with Austria, pacified Switzerland and Belgium, opened up negotiations with Russia; while his elevation of Newman to the cardinalate (1879) made a great impression in Great Britain.
Under his influence a Christian Socialist movement sprang up in France and Belgium, and soon spread to Italy, Germany and Austria.
Herbert spent six years at Stonyhurst, and was then sent to study with the Benedictines at Downside, near Bath, and subsequently at the Jesuit school of Brugelette, Belgium, which was afterwards removed to Paris.
Tilburg has risen into importance since the separation of Belgium from Holland as one of the chief industrial centres of the south.
The celebrated Courtrai flax of Belgium is the most valuable staple in the market, on account of its fineness, strength and particularly bright colour.
In Belgium the institutions for the repression of vagrancy are maintained by the state under a law of November 27th, 1891.
A foreign subject implicated in a criminal suit cannot be pursued or molested in any way unless there exist full proofs of his having taken part in the crime imputed to him, and should he be duly convicted of the crime, he is handed over to his legation, which either sends him back to his own country to undergo the punishment established by law, or, according to more recent usage, punishes him in Persia by fine, imprisonment, &c. In this respect the powers of the foreign representatives in Persia, now numbering ten (Great Britain, Russia, France, Turkey, Austria-Hungary, Germany, United States of America, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands) vary considerably, some having the power of condemning a criminal to death, while others cannot do more than fine and imprison for short periods.
Belgium and Austria, it begins on the ist of January; in Italy,.
In Switzerland, which is sometimes classed with Belgium as among the least-policed states of Europe, the laws of the cantons vary.
In some respects they are stricter than in Belgium or even in France.
He remained at the ministry, preserving the habits of the diplomacy of the old regime, until December 1792, when he was sent to Belgium as agent of the republic, but he was involved in the treason of Dumouriez and was arrested on the 2nd of April 1793.
He treated the relations of church and state in L'Eglise et Petal (Brussels, 3 vols., 1858-1862; new and revised edition, 1865), and the same subject occupied a large proportion of the eighteen volumes of his chief historical work, Etudes sur l'histoire de l'humanite (Ghent and Brussels, 1 8551870), which aroused considerable interest beyond the boundaries of Belgium.
The most important are Spa in Belgium, Schwalbach in Germany, St Moritz and Tarasp in Switzerland.
Next to Great Britain the countries doing most trade with South Africa are Australia and New Zealand, Germany, the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, Belgium, Holland and France.
The fruit is smaller than that of the Morea, and has a peculiar flavour; it finds a market mainly in Holland, Belgium and Germany.
Hieronymus Cardan, a monk, is supposed to have been the first to introduce it from Peru into Spain, from which country it passed into Italy and thence into Belgium.
But his reputation in court circles was increasing; he was appointed a member of the committee for the reform of the criminal law in 1840; and, the same year with a letter of recommendation from Metternich in his pocket, visited England and France, Holland and Belgium, made the acquaintance of Thiers and Heine in Paris, and returned home with an immense and precious store of practical information.
Aalst, a town in Belgium, in the province of East Flanders, is situated on the left bank of the Dender; the ancient capital of what was called Imperial Flanders.
In 1862 a treaty of peace and commerce with the United States was ratified, and in the following year a similar treaty was concluded with Belgium; but new causes of disagreement with Chile had arisen in the discovery of rich beds of guano on the eastern coast-land of the desert of Atacama, which threatened warfare, and were only set at rest by the treaty of August 1866, in which the 24th parallel of latitude was adopted as the boundary between the two republics.
The Belgae, who were Cimbric in origin, has spread across the Rhine and given their name to all northern France and Belgium (Gallia Belgica).
The diplomatic agent of Belgium at Buenos Aires, e.g., is minister-resident and consul-general, and the minister of Ecuador in London is consulgeneral charge d'affaires.
Considerant's share in the "demonstration" under the leadership of Ledru-Rollin on the 13th of June 1849 caused his compulsory flight to Belgium.
He was ambassador in London when the disturbances of 1830 convinced him of the necessity of the separation of Belgium from Holland.
On account of his health he resigned the office of war minister in the October following, but in 1831 he took the command of the northern army, and was successful in thirteen days in driving the army of Holland out of Belgium.
Includes both Dutch language literature from the Netherlands and her colonies, Belgium and her colonies, France and foreign Dutch immigrant populations including Afrikaners before Afrikaans became standardised.
On the continent of Europe, especially in Belgium, Germany and Italy, where pieces of small size are preferred, the Gheve,' and the Yoghourma, i.e.
He also visited Spa, in Belgium, about 1870, and in October 1887 went for a lecturing tour in the United States.
In Italy (Rome), Holland (The Hague), Belgium (Antwerp and Bruges), there are small societies, and nearly every European country has some known adherents.
France, Germany, Belgium and the United States are the principal foreign countries with which the state trades.
The king of the Netherlands had appealed to the powers who had placed him on the throne to maintain his rights; and a conference assembled accordingly in London to settle the question, which involved the independence of Belgium and the security of England.
If the northern powers supported the king of Holland by force, they would encounter the resistance of France and England united in arms, if France sought to annex Belgium she would forfeit the alliance of England, and find herself opposed by the whole continent of Europe.
In the end the policy of England prevailed; numerous difficulties, both great and small, were overcome by the conference; although on the verge of war, peace was maintained; and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was placed upon the throne of Belgium.
The revolution of 1848 spread like a conflagration through Europe, and shook every throne on the Continent except those of Russia, Spain, and Belgium.
The chief importance of Malines is derived from the fact that it is in a sense the religious capital of Belgium - the archbishop being the primate of the Catholic Church in that country.
In 1908 the state was annexed to Belgium.
Simultane of preference accorded to France could be opposed to that of Belgium; and on the 29th of April the French minister took note, in the name of the French government, of this interpretation of the right of preference, in so far as such interpretation was not contrary to pre-existing international engagements.
Germany was the next great power after the United States to recognize the flag of the International Association as that of a friendly state, doing so on the 8th of November 1884, and the same recognition was subsequently accorded by Great Britain on the 16th of December; Italy, 19th of December; Austria-Hungary, 24th of December; Holland, 27th of December; Spain, 7th of January 1885; France and Russia, 5th of February; Sweden and Norway, 10th of February; Portugal, 14th of February; and Denmark and Belgium, 23rd of February.
In April 1885 the Belgian chamber authorized King Leopold "to he the chief of the state founded in Africa by the International Association of the Congo," and declared that "the union between Belgium and the new State of the Congo shall be exclusively personal."
It has already been noted that the right of preference accorded to France in 1884, as interpreted in 1887, was not intended to be opposed to that of Belgium.
By his will dated the 2nd of August 1889 King Leopold bequeathed to Belgium "all our sovereign rights over the Independent State of the Congo, as they are recognized by the declarations, conventions and treaties concluded since 1884 between the foreign powers on the one side, the International Association of the Congo and 2 After 1900 Nyangwe and Kasongo again became towns of some importance, and traffic along the route to Tanganyika revived with the advent of railways, though the main traffic continued down the Congo river.
Under the terms of the government measure, which finally passed through the Belgian parliament in August 1901, Belgium retained her right of option, though not the right to exercise it at a fixed date.
Moreover, in anticipation of the time when the Congo State would become a Belgian colony, there was issued under date of 7th of August 1901 the terms of a proposed loi organique, regulating the government of any colonial possessions which Belgium might acquire.
Naturally the development of the charges against the Congo State system of administration was followed with close interest in Belgium.
By the advocates of radical reforms these measures were regarded as utterly inadequate, and even in Belgium, among those friendly to the Congo State system of administration, some uneasiness was excited by a letter which was published along with the decrees, wherein King Leopold intimated that certain conditions would attach to the inheritance he had designed for Belgium.
The fears excited by this letter that King Leopold desired to restrict Belgium's liberty of action in the Congo State when the latter should become a Belgian colony were not diminished by the announcement in November 1906 of four new concessions, conferring very extensive rights on railway, mining and rubber companies in which foreign capital was largely interested.
In reply to an influential deputation which waited upon him on the 10th of November, Sir Edward Grey, speaking as the representative of the British government in his capacity as secretary of state for foreign affairs, expressed the desire" that Belgium should feel that her freedom of action is unfettered and unimpaired and her choice unembarrassed by anything which we have done or are likely to do "; but he added that if Belgium should fail to take action" it will be impossible for us to continue to recognize indefinitely the present state of things without a very close examination of our treaty rights and the treaty obligations of the Congo State."The debate in the Belgian chamber opened on the 28th of November and was not concluded till the 14th of December.
It was largely occupied with the consideration of the relations between Belgium and the Congo State from the constitutional point of view.
In the resolution which was adopted on the 2nd of March the chamber," imbued with the ideas which presided over the foundation of the Congo State and inspired the Act of Berlin,"expressed its confidence in the proposals which the commission of reforms was elaborating, and decided" to proceed without delay to the examination of the projected law of the 7th of August 1901, on the government of Belgium's colonial possessions."The report of the reforms commission was not made public, but as the fruit of its deliberations King Leopold signed on the 3rd of June 1906 a number of decrees embodying various While the commission was sitting, further evidence was forthcoming that the system complained of on the Congo remained unaltered, and that the" reforms "of June 1906 were illusory.
Not only in Great Britain and America did the agitation against the administration of the Congo State gain ground, but in Belgium and France reform associations enlightened public opinion.
The attitude of the powers was at the same time perfectly friendly towards Belgium.
On the 10th of July 1907 the Belgian premier announced that negotiations with the Congo State would be renewed, and on the 28th of November following a treaty was signed for the cession of the Congo State to Belgium.
This" government within a government "was secured in all its privileges, its profits as heretofore being appropriated to allowances to members of the royal family and the maintenance and development of" works of public utility "in Belgium and the Congo, those works including schemes for the embellishment of the royal palaces and estates in Belgium and others for making Ostend" a bathing city unique in the world."The state was to have the right of redemption on terms which, had the rubber and ivory produce alone been redeemed, would have cost Belgium about £8,50o,000.
The foreign secretary declared, in reference to the negotiations for the transfer of the Congo to Belgium, that any semi-transfer which left the controlling power in the hands of" the present authorities "would not be considered by Great Britain as a guarantee of treaty rights.
Thesiger, consul at Boma, who in a memorandum on the application of the labour tax, after detailing various abuses, added," The system which gave rise to these abuses still continues unchanged, and so long as it is unaltered the condition of the natives must remain one of veiled slavery."Eight days later (on the 5th of March) an additional act was signed in Brussels annulling the clauses in the treaty of cession concerning the Fondation, which was to cease to exist on the day Belgium assumed the sovereignty of the Congo and its property to be absorbed in the state domains.
Belgium undertook at her own charges and at an estimated cost of £2,000,000 to complete" the works of embellishment "begun in Belgium with funds derived from the Fondation and to create a debt of £2,000,000 chargeable on the funds of the colony, which sum was to be paid to the king in fifteen annual instalments - the money, however, to be expended on objects" connected with and beneficial to the Congo."The annuities to members of the royal family were to be continued, and other subsidies were promised.
But the most important provision was the agreement of Belgium to respect the concessions granted in the lands of the Fondation in November 1906 to the American Congo Company and the Compagnie forestiere et miniere, companies in which the Congo State had large holdings.
Public opinion in Belgium was disturbed and anxious at the prospect of assuming responsibility for a vast, distant, and badly administered country, likely for years to be a severe financial drain upon the resources of the state.
On the 14th of November the state ceased to exist, the rights of sovereignty being assumed by Belgium the next day without ceremony of any kind.'
It extends north from the estuary of the Congo, the northern bank of the estuary belonging to Belgium, the southern to Portugal.
The 1 The first power to recognize the transfer of the state to Belgium was Germany, which did so in January 1909.
More than 75% of the native produce, known as "special exports," go to Belgium.
Twothirds of the imports are from Belgium; the remainder came from Germany, Great Britain (chiefly cottons), France and Holland.
The Free State, under King Leopold of Belgium, was organized as an absolute monarchy.
Civil and criminal codes were promulgated by decrees, and in both cases the laws of Belgium were adopted as the basis of legislation, and "modified to suit the special requirements" of the state; e.g.